


Book Club

by piratesPencil



Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, basically just a fluffy fishlegs and tuffnut friendship ficlet, with a side of ruffnut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:56:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25038844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piratesPencil/pseuds/piratesPencil
Summary: Fishlegs realizes that he and Tuffnut have more in common than he thought. (Aka Fishlegs learns not to underestimate a Thorston.)
Relationships: Fishlegs Ingerman & Tuffnut Thorston
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26





	Book Club

Fishlegs stormed into the twins’ hut without bothering to knock. He wasn’t as quick to anger as most of his friends, but he could get _mad_ when it mattered, and very few things mattered as much to him as his books did.

“Tuffnut, this is the _third time this week_ that you have _stolen my personal property_!” he shouted, making sure to slam the door behind him with force.

“Whoa, hey, F, who got your dainties in a twist?” Tuffnut asked, looking up from where he was lounging on top of his Thor-forsaken stuffed yak.

“ _You did!_ ” Fishlegs answered.

“I did?” Tuffnut said. He looked genuinely thoughtful, like maybe he’d been twisting up Fishlegs’ dainties earlier that day and had simply forgotten.

All Fishlegs cared about, though, was the thick leather-bound book that Tuffnut was holding loosely in one hand.

“I’ll take that back, thanks,” Fishlegs snapped, reaching over and snatching the book out of Tuffnut’s hand.

“Hey! I was reading that!” Tuffnut said. He slid off the back of the yak and tried to grab at the book, but Fishlegs was just tall enough to hold it out of Tuffnut’s reach.

“Sure you were,” Fishlegs said. He glanced around the hut, trying to figure out where Tuffnut might have stashed the rest of his precious collection.

“I was!” Tuffnut insisted. “And I haven’t been _stealing_ your books, I’ve been _borrowing_ them. I was gonna put them back. Like a library!”

“A what?” Fishlegs asked distractedly, still glancing around the hut.

“A library! Like the one they had in Alexandria,” Tuffnut said.

“What are you talking about?”

Tuffnut shrugged. “You’d know about it if you read more,” he said.

Fishlegs scoffed. “If _I_ read more?”

Tuffnut nodded. “It’s amazing what you can learn in a book.”

“I know that! I’m the book guy!” Fishlegs said.

“Are you?” Tuffnut asked, arching an eyebrow. And then he jumped, and Fishlegs was distracted enough that he didn’t pull the book away in time, and before he had a chance to react, Tuffnut had snagged the book from Fishlegs and was running for the door.

“Hey! Get back here!” Fishlegs shouted, darting after him.

But Tuffnut was _fast_ , and by the time Fishlegs reached the door of the hut, Tuffnut had already disappeared somewhere, behind a building or down a ramp.

Fishlegs groaned. Fine. Tuffnut could have that _one_ book, for now. He’d find the rest of them, though, and this time he’d ask Hiccup to make him a completely twin-proof lock for his book chest.

* * *

Fishlegs was still riffling through the twins’ things, trying to find his books, when he heard someone enter the hut. He jumped, feeling guilty, even though he was looking for _his_ books.

“Fishlegs? Are you… stealing from us?” Ruffnut asked, eyes wide.

“What? No! I’m just—”

Ruffnut sniffed loudly, wiped a tear from her eye. Was she _crying_?

“I’m so _proud_!” she shouted, running at Fishlegs and almost knocking him over with the force of her hug. “We’ve taught you well, my pupil.”

“I’m not stealing!” Fishlegs shouted, wiggling out of her embrace. “I’m looking for the books that _your_ brother stole from _me_.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, your books? He said he was borrowing them.”

“Well, he didn’t _ask_ if he could borrow them. And what’s he going to do with them anyways?”

“Uh, read them?” Ruffnut said, rolling her eyes. “Obviously. Man, I can’t believe the others still think you’re the _smart_ one.”

“Like Tuffnut actually wants to read them,” Fishlegs said, crossing his arms. “Look, I know you guys like to just… take our stuff. As a prank, I guess? But I _need_ those books, Ruffnut.”

“Nah, we only take Snotlout’s stuff as a prank,” Ruffnut said. “He takes our stuff, too. It’s kind of a competition? We’re _definitely_ winning, though.” She snickered.

“Okay, well, I don’t want to be part of this competition. Can you please just tell me where Tuff put the books?”

He put on his best puppy-dog face. Sometimes, when Ruffnut was in the right mood, it worked on her.

She shook her head, though, unmoved. “No can do, Ingerman. My brother needs those books, and Thorstons never betray Thorstons.”

Fishlegs was pretty sure that wasn’t entirely true, but he chose to ignore it. “Why does he _need_ them?”

“Education is very important to him,” Ruffnut said, nodding somberly.

“Is it?” Fishlegs asked dubiously.

“It is! Where do you think he learns all those big words? The foreign languages? That’s all books, my dude.”

Fishlegs paused. “Wait. That stuff’s all real? I thought he was just making it up.”

Ruffnut threw her head back and laughed, then tossed an arm around Fishlegs’ shoulders. “See, friend, I thought so, too,” she said. “But then he started showing me all these books he’s read, and would you believe it? It’s all real! Or at least, the books say it’s real. I still think you can’t trust a book as far as you can throw it, but it’s pretty fun to play along with all the stuff he’s into, and some of it is pretty interesting.”

“But… I don’t know about half the stuff he talks about, and they’re _my_ books. Where’s he getting this stuff?”

Ruffnut snorted. “You think you’re the only one who gets books from Trader Johann? I don’t know what kind of deal Tuff and Johann have got, but Johann gets him the _good_ stuff. You, my good Ingerman, have been getting Johann’s leftovers for years.”

“What?” Fishlegs balked. The idea that he’d been missing out on books for years was downright terrifying.

Ruffnut shrugged and gave Fishlegs’ shoulder a squeeze.

“Johann hasn’t been as punctual lately, so I guess Tuff ran out of stuff to read. That’s why he’s been _borrowing_ from your stash,” she said.

She released Fishlegs and gave him a shove towards the door. “Now get out of my hut, thief.”

“I’m not a thief!” Fishlegs protested, but Ruff shoved him out of the hut anyways.

* * *

Tuffnut lounged against a damp rock, skimming the pages of the book he’d snagged from Fishlegs. His hangout cave wasn’t quite as comfortable as his hut, but it worked in a pinch, even if he did have to squint to read in the flickering lantern light.

The book was an epic tale of grand adventure—he was actually surprised that Fishlegs owned this book, because the guy was usually more into facts than stories. Tuffnut wasn’t picky, though. He just liked reading, and he could learn just as much weird stuff from a story as he could from a book on botany or dragons or distant lands.

He was just getting to the good part when he heard a sound at the entrance to the cave, and looked up to see Fishlegs stepping inside.

“Barf, Belch, get’im!” Tuffnut said, leaping to his feet.

The Zippleback, who’d been napping lazily by his side while he read, lifted its twin heads and growled ineffectively at Fishlegs, then immediately went back to sleep.

“Guysss,” Tuffnut whined, then spun around to face Fishlegs, making sure to hide the book behind his back. “What do you want?” he asked suspiciously.

“Well, first off, I want my books back,” Fishlegs said.

Tuffnut frowned, trying to come up with a good reason why he should get to keep Fishlegs’ books. He thought _because I want them_ should be a good enough excuse, but he was pretty sure that Fishlegs wouldn’t agree.

“But I might also… want to borrow your books?” Fishlegs said hesitantly.

Tuffnut’s eyes widened, and then he grinned. _This_ he could work with.

“ _My_ books?” he said. “Well, my good sir, we might be able to come to an agreement there.”

Fishlegs rolled his eyes. “Just… is it true, that you’ve been getting books from Johann for years?” he asked.

Tuffnut nodded enthusiastically. “The first time it was an accident,” he said. “I thought it was a shield, but turns out it was just a really big book.” He shrugged. “I’d already traded for it, though, so I figured I could give reading it a try. And what do you know? Reading’s great!”

“So you _actually_ like reading,” Fishlegs said, like he still didn’t quite believe it.

“Would you like a demonstration?” Tuffnut asked, whipping the book out from behind he back. He cleared his throat, preparing to give Fishlegs an awe-inspiring performance.

“No, no, I believe that you _can_ read,” Fishlegs said, waving his hands. “I just… I’m sorry, I guess? For doubting that you’d actually be, you know, interested in reading. I should give you more credit.”

Something warm and mushy wrapped itself around Tuffnut’s heart. He hadn’t actually been that upset that Fishlegs doubted him—he was used to being underestimated, and to be honest, it made pranking people a lot easier, so he didn’t really mind—but it felt surprisingly good to hear that apology from him.

Tuffnut stepped over to Fishlegs and threw an arm around his shoulders. “No problemo, F. You know what? I think this could be the start of something beautiful.”

Fishlegs laughed slightly, but he didn’t pull away. “Is that so?”

“You know it! I just came up with this idea for something called a _book club_ and I think you’d be the perfect candidate to start one with me. Who else do you think we could get? Hiccup, maybe? He only reads books about dragons though. Dammit. You think we could talk Snotlout into picking up a book?”

Tuffnut was just rambling now, but Fishlegs was actually smiling at him, so Tuff figured that things were going to turn out okay.

Really, he didn't know why hadn’t starting stealing Fishlegs’ books sooner.


End file.
